Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I speak to the specifics of the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024, I want to share a personal story—one that highlights why I care so deeply about manufacturing in Australia and why this legislation is close to home for me.

My dad, Vince, spent all of his working life in manufacturing. For some of this time, he worked as a maintenance worker at the Kodak factory in Coburg, in my home state of Victoria. He started there in 1997. Like many working Australians, he put in years of hard work and dedication to support our family. The Kodak factory was a landmark of our area, a sprawling site that employed hundreds of workers, and it was central to the local economy. It was part of what made Coburg such an important manufacturing hub in Melbourne for many years. At its peak, Kodak was a household name, and its factory was a symbol of Australia's manufacturing strength. The Coburg site was the largest factory in the city of Moreland, known as Meri-Bek now, spanning 21 buildings. It opened in 1961 and remained a key part of the community until its closure in 2004. For decades, it was one of Melbourne's most well-known factories—a place where generations of workers like my dad earned their livelihood.

I saw firsthand how manufacturing jobs gradually were offshored. The closure of the factory in Coburg was part of a significant wave of change that reshaped not just the local economy but the lives of countless families, including mine. When the factory closed its doors, it wasn't just the end of a job for my dad; it was the end of an era for the entire community. Coburg, once a manufacturing stronghold, saw its landscape transform. Countless jobs were lost, and Australia's manufacturing capacity continued to decline. The northern suburbs of Melbourne, including Coburg, were changed forever by the loss of these jobs. This is why I stand with such passion for this bill here today. I know what it means to lose manufacturing jobs. I've seen it in my own family and I've seen it in my community. I'm determined to make sure that future generations of Australians won't have to experience that same loss. That's why the Future Made in Australia Bill is so important. It's about protecting and revitalising industries, like the one my dad worked in, and it's about ensuring that Australian manufacturing can not only survive but thrive into the future.

This legislation is what good governments do. They invest in their people and their jobs, building skilled and satisfying careers, and they invest in communities and the future. For decades, Labor governments have led the way on nation-building policies, from superannuation to Medicare and more recently paid family violence leave and the creation of the Net Zero Economy Authority. These are the kinds of nation-building reforms that ensure the Australian community has economic security and opportunities not just for now but for generations to come. They're about protecting and advancing working people and creating a fairer society for everyone.

For over 20 years, I've worked to improve the lives of working Australians by fighting for fair wages, better conditions and safer workplaces. The Future Made in Australia Act is all about that. It's about making sure the jobs of the future are good jobs that pay well, are secure and benefit Australian workers and their communities. It's about creating pathways and opportunities for our young people to build satisfying careers in trades, technology and innovation. At the core of this bill are a set of community benefit principles, which ensure that the investments we make as a government benefit workers, local communities and industries that drive our economy, across the country. These principles are essential to ensuring that the economic growth that we generate is shared broadly, not just concentrated in the hands of a few. They are about making sure that every dollar that we invest serves the public good.

The five community benefit principles at the heart of, and enshrined in, this legislation ensure that (1) we promote safe and secure jobs that are well paid and offer good conditions; (2) we develop a skilled and inclusive workforce by investing in training and skills development, and broadening workforce participation; (3) we engage with, and support, local communities, including First Nations communities and those most affected by the transition to net zero; (4) we strengthen Australia's industrial capabilities by enhancing local supply chains and boosting domestic manufacturing; and (5) we ensure transparency and accountability in how public investments are managed, particularly when it comes to the benefits received under the Future Made in Australia framework.

These benefits are critical to ensuring that the principles described are not just aspirational or 'nice to have if those businesses we partner with can fit them in'. It will be mandated that they be delivered. They will not just be words on paper. In terms of requiring these principles to be followed, they will be practical, but they will also be enormously impactful. They will ensure that, when the government invests in industries like clean energy, advanced manufacturing or critical minerals—the modern manufacturing industries—it is the Australian people who will benefit, and not just the companies involved.

My home state of Victoria still remains the biggest manufacturing state in the country, with a $33.5 billion industry. It remains a cornerstone of our economy. It's home to more than 23,000 manufacturing firms and over 279,000 workers. In fact, Victoria accounts for 31 per cent of Australian manufacturing output. That's a huge number, and it speaks to the importance of this sector, not just in Victoria but also across the entire country. But Victorian workers know there are different approaches to manufacturing. They remember how the coalition chased out car manufacturing and killed more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs. They and I remember the devastating impact that that had on families and communities, particularly around the regions of Geelong and Campbellfield, and the downstream manufacturing shops further afield that lost their major contracts supplying the vehicle industry. I remember the ripple effect across the economy as workers' years of loyal service were taken away as their jobs were offshored.

The car industry is but one example of this devastation, as we've seen the decline in Australian manufacturing industries. But Labor is seeking, with this legislation, to repair that damage, and our industry policy has already seen us create 70,000 new manufacturing jobs. The opposition only talk about manufacturing to talk it down. On this side of the chamber, we back our manufacturers, and we always have. This legislation is about securing that legacy and building on it. It's about ensuring that Australia can be a manufacturing powerhouse into the future. It's about making things here. It's about aligning economic incentives with the national interest. It's about investing in skills and training. And It's about investing in clean energy, green metals and critical minerals processing.

We know that climate change is the most pressing challenge of our time, and this bill allows us not only to meet this challenge but to grasp the opportunities in front of us. It ensures that the industries of the future, the industries that will power our net zero economy, are built and sustained right here in Australia. It does this through the National Interest Framework, which identifies sectors where Australia has a comparative advantage or where investment is crucial to our economic security. This framework focuses on sectors that support global decarbonisation and where Australia has a reasonable prospect of sustained advantage.

The government has already identified five key industries that will be the focus of this investment: (1) renewable hydrogen; (2) critical minerals processing; (3) green metals; (4) low-carbon liquid fuels; and (5) clean energy manufacturing, including battery and solar panel supply chains. These are sectors that have the potential to create thousands of jobs and drive significant economic growth. They are the sectors that will revitalise and renew our manufacturing industry and secure Australia's place in the global clean energy economy.

We're also investing in making sure that the things Australians rely on are right here, through the economic resilience stream of the Future Made in Australia plan. This is about learning the lessons of the pandemic and preparing Australia to deal with future challenges, building domestic supply chains to make sure we aren't relying on things overseas in a crisis. Labor want us to make things here and ship them everywhere. The opposition want us to make nothing here and import everything.

Yes, the coalition have opposed this bill and resisted the necessary investments in clean energy and domestic manufacturing. Under their watch, factories have closed, jobs have been lost and opportunities to build sustainable futures have been squandered. They failed to invest in renewables, with 22 failed energy policies in 10 years, leaving Australia vulnerable to the shifting dynamics of global energy markets. Even now, three years into the parliamentary term, they haven't got a single serious or costed economic policy. All they have to offer is an expensive nuclear fantasy.

Their opposition to this bill reflects a lack of ambition for our country and a short-sightedness we simply cannot afford. They've failed to recognise that clean energy investment and manufacturing are not mutually exclusive. They are intertwined, and this bill makes that clear. They've made it clear to every worker installing solar, every worker making batteries and every worker in critical minerals that they won't have a job under a coalition government.

By contrast, the Albanese government understands that the future of manufacturing lies in clean energy. That's why we are making significant investments through the $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia budget package. This package includes production tax incentives for hydrogen and critical minerals, the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund, the Solar Sunshot program, the Battery Breakthrough Initiative and the National Interest Account. These initiatives will make Australia an indispensable part of the global supply chain and cement our place as a renewable energy superpower. Now, that's the kind of vision we should all get behind.

A future made in Australia requires a skilled workforce that is ready to meet the needs of a transitioning economy. Recently, I attended the launch of the Electrical Trades Union's Charged up report, which highlighted the urgent need for an additional 32,000 electricians by 2030 and a staggering 85,000 by 2050. This is a wake-up call for us.

The coalition spent years running down skills in our economy, leaving us without the workforce we need for the future, but this government is about fixing that. We've invested in TAFE, with 500,000 fee-free places, and we're expanding our programs to train workers in clean energy industries. The government is also investing $91 million to accelerate the development of the clean energy workforce through expanded access to the New Energy Apprenticeships Program and VET courses.

The Albanese government is also building a hydrogen centre of excellence in Queensland and a clean energy centre of excellence in Western Australia. We're committed to increasing women's participation in these industries, with initiatives like the Building Women's Careers Program and support for STEM diversity. With this bill we are building a strong, skilled and inclusive workforce. We are making sure that our regions, those that have traditionally powered Australia, are at the forefront of the net zero transition. This is about realising the opportunities for workers, communities and businesses right across the country. We are planning for the long term and we are doing it with the Australian people in mind. I am proud to stand in support of this bill today.